By Jack Hough

When Raj Subramaniam became FedEx CEO in June 2022, succeeding founder Fred Smith, challenges included a slumping stock, a pandemic e-commerce hangover, and activist investors rattling the gate. But the biggest problem was cultural. Smith had built an air-based express-delivery company first, with a largely business-to-business package flow, and later took share in ground-based deliveries to consumers. But the air and ground businesses were kept strictly siloed, with different hubs, routes, and trucks.

Subramaniam's answer was One FedEx, which combines air, ground, and the company's services division into a single business. The result has been lower costs and faster technological improvements. Packing robots from Dexterity AI have increased trailer utilization by up to 13%. Machine learning turns traffic and weather analysis into faster deliveries.

Earlier this month, a spinoff of FedEx Freight freed up capital and kept FedEx squarely focused on packages. Since the day before Subramaniam, 60, was announced as CEO, shares have gained 102%, besting the S&P 500 by 28 points. There are no more activists at the gate.

Write to Jack Hough at jack.hough@barrons.com and subscribe to his Barron's Streetwise podcast.

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June 19, 2026 01:00 ET (05:00 GMT)

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